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Sunday, November 20, 2011

My partner and I have been working on Spectra, a two player cooperative puzzle platformer, for our Intermediate Game Development class at USC.

We set out not to create just interesting game mechanics, or to tell a touching story, but to also address co-operative play between two players.

Mirror Images
Today, whenever the topic of co-operative play comes up, everyone is quick to refer to Portal 2, which includes a two player campaign alongside its main single-player story. Valve was very successful in crafting an entire experience around their two player mode, stringing together a set of new characters, voice acting and a narrative.

However, these new puzzles are essentially Portal levels that involve a second set of portals. The two players are mirror images of one another, have the same controls, the same portal gun.
players have swappable roles, Two Layered Cake
Spectra's co-op gameplay is different in that the two players abilities are directional and can be layered on top of each other.
Each player is given the same set of colors: white, red, blue, yellow.
However, they differ in the way that they use these colors.
Games like portal 2 had a straightforward evolution to a two playermmode.
It is, however tough to go in the other direction, creating a single player experience out of a multiplayer one.
Part of our purpose for creating spectra is to bring two players closer together and feel the intimacy of the hero and heroine.
The removal of either of the characters breaks down the structure of control.
to use an analogy, Spectra would be the equivalent of two players each controlling a single portal. you need both of the portals for the mechanic to be demonstratable. you need two sets of primary colors to create secondary colors.

My partner and I have been working on Spectra, a two player cooperative puzzle platformer, for our Intermediate Game Development class at USC.

We set out not to create just interesting game mechanics, or to tell a touching story, but to also address co-operative play between two players.

Mirror Images
Today, whenever the topic of co-operative play comes up, everyone is quick to refer to Portal 2, which includes a two player campaign alongside its main single-player story. Valve was very successful in crafting an entire experience around their two player mode, stringing together a set of new characters, voice acting and a narrative.

However, these new puzzles are essentially Portal levels that involve a second set of portals. The two players are mirror images of one another, have the same controls, the same portal gun.
players have swappable roles, Two Layered Cake
Spectra's co-op gameplay is different in that the two players abilities are directional and can be layered on top of each other.
Each player is given the same set of colors: white, red, blue, yellow.
However, they differ in the way that they use these colors.
Games like portal 2 had a straightforward evolution to a two playermmode.
It is, however tough to go in the other direction, creating a single player experience out of a multiplayer one.
Part of our purpose for creating spectra is to bring two players closer together and feel the intimacy of the hero and heroine.
The removal of either of the characters breaks down the structure of control.
to use an analogy, Spectra would be the equivalent of two players each controlling a single portal. you need both of the portals for the mechanic to be demonstratable. you need two sets of primary colors to create secondary colors.

Monday, November 14, 2011

A friend of mine invited me to contribute some art on a hackathon project. We were given 10 days to work on it, minus whatever time we would want to spend on Actual Classes that cost money. The theme was the poem My Shadowby Robert Louis Stevenson.

Our game was a sidescrolling action platformer in which the player manipulates the position of the shadow of a priestess(placed on the floor, on the side of walls, or even right behind him), to execute different abilities, which both support her platforming and her combat.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

I've been yearning for a course on color recently. My school does not seem to offer one, and the closest I would be able to get to color theory would likely be the Painting class and/or certain Animation courses. I remember watching the Gurren Lagann production documentary, and noting that a key role in the entire process were the people in the coloring department.

Another instance was a Toy Story 3 presentation by Lee Unkrich in which he showed how the entire film was color keyed to set the mood in each sequence.

Agent Purple?

In this last game I worked on, Agent Purple, (again for CombiForm), I made sure not to recycle any previous colors, instead opting to practice using the Photoshop color picker. I ended up referencing the original cover for A Study in Scarlet, and, at my producer's suggestion, Patrick Owsley's rendition of Secret Squirrel.